The Inside and Outside Aren't the Same
by trekhorse42
Summary: Kat starts off the day being late, and then late again. To add onto her problems, she feels like someone is watching her. Is she just being paranoid or is someone really there?
1. Chapter 1

** This uses the same characters as my other story, It's Not What It Seems. I don't own Tom Nook, Timmy, Tommy, Redd, Pelly, or Victoria. I own all the others. Enjoy! Don't be afraid to review!**

The sun hadn't rose yet, and the air was frosty and cold. Kat sat in her new house, sipping a cup of hot chocolate, despite the fact that it was summer.

Sitting on the table next to Kat was her phone. It vibrated, a message flashing on the screen. Kat looked over and picked up her phone.

"Where are you…" Kat muttered under her breath, reading the message out loud. "Crap!"

Kat stood up and grabbed her phone, then ran out the door. As she dodged through the trees, she punched letters on her phone's keyboard.

"There." Clearing the forest, Kat shoved her phone in her pocket and took off at full run.

"Vic, I'm so sorry," Kat panted as she stepped into her friend's house.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Vic?" The horse complained.

"Sorry. I'm here now anyways."

"Yeah," Victoria led the way to the kitchen where the dinner table was. It had two places set, each with a plate and silverware.

"Mmm… pancakes!" Kat commented, seating herself at the small oak table.

"Yep. Cherry. I made sure they would taste extra good this time," Victoria said as she took a bite out of her pancake.

"Well I'm sure they'd be good anyways!" Kat responded as she began stuffing herself on breakfast.

As the girls stuffed themselves on pancakes, they talked.

"So what do you think of Deep Grass?" Victoria asked.

"It's great. I'm making a lot of new friends," Kat replied, stabbing a spongy piece of pancake and shoving it in her mouth.

"That's good. So it's not awkward living in the same town as your brothers?"

"No." The conversation quickly came to a close when all the pancakes were gone and both plates were sticky with syrup.

"Wow Victoria, that was really good! I had no idea that you were such a skilled cook."

The horse blushed, "Thanks… but don't you have a job to get to?"

"Oh no! You're right! I'd love to stay longer, but I have to go!"

Victoria smiled at her friend's mistake. "It's ok, just go before Tom Nook gets mad at you!"

"Alright, bye!" Kat called out behind her as she rushed out the door.

Outside, the sun had just peeked over the cliffs and was warming the frosty air, covering everything in a soft glow. Trees cast long shadows, turning into voids of darkness.

Kat half jogged half walked. As she passed the fishing pond that was connected to the river, she paused.

The water rippled, causing the reflection of the sky to become distorted. At the edge of the pond was a chain of small waves, growing, expanding into large rings of waves.

Kat looked across the pond and caught a glimpse of someone hiding behind a tree. "Hello?"

No answer.

"Hello?" Still no answer. Kat continued to walk, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

After a few minutes Kat reached Nookington's. The building towered above her, and she stepped within sensor range of the doors and they slid open.

"I'm here!"

Nook popped up from behind the counter. "Hello Kat. You're…" the raccoon checked his watch. "Three minutes late."

Kat's eyebrows shot up, worried that she might lose her job. Rumors circulated through town saying that Tom Nook was super strict and his last employee was fired because he was five minutes late. Kat tried to calm herself, those were only rumors, after all. "I'm sorry," Kat stuttered, fearing the worst.

"Next time I expect you to be more careful." Nook warned as he disappeared into his office.

Kat let out a sigh of relief, and vowed to herself to be early from now on.

The day passed slowly. There were only five customers her entire shift. Kat was bored to death.

After being in hiding the entire day, Tom Nook came out, bounding with energy.

"Ok, Tommy, Timmy, get the upstairs room ready for the night!" He yelled up the stairway. "Kat, you're helping close for the night since you were late this morning. Come on, let's go!" Nook ordered, clapping his paws together for effect.

Two small voices from upstairs replied, "Yes sir!"

Kat quietly groaned. She'd been looking forward to going home because she was going to play a board game with her brothers, but it looked like that would have to wait. "What should I do?"

"Clean the shelves that the goods are on," her boss demanded.

"But don't you do that in the morning?" Kat asked, puzzled.

"Do as you're told!" Kat flinched and grabbed a cloth from under the counter.

Suddenly there was a loud rucus from upstairs, and two balls of brown fur came tumbling down the stairs.

"We're done!" They squeaked as they ran into the office.

Tom Nook mumbled something, and Kat stared in envy at the door that led to the office. How could they be done so fast?

Kat began scrubbing the table surfaces with Nook watching intently over her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

**A short chapter, but I hope you like it!**

Fifteen minutes later, Kat left Nookington's with a sore arm. Nook had pointed out every single spot she missed, and Kat was sick of it. The first floor wasn't even that big, and there was hardly any merchandise, just flower seeds and stationary along with some other stuff. Anyways, it was over, and Kat was walking home under the far-away stars.

The night was dark and there was no moon. In a way it seemed like a horror movie, where a werewolf would jump out of the trees and kill its next victim. Kat quickly banished the thought from her head.

Kat was approaching the cliff, and she could barely see the drop off. Instinctively she strayed towards the other side of the path.

Leaves rustled. The human froze. She spun around, feeling like someone was watching her, spying on her. "Hello? Hello? I know you're there." Kat inched towards the nearest tree.

Suddenly a figure dashed away, and Kat followed, declaring pursuit.

"Hey! Who are you?" She yelled, not caring if she disturbed any of the neighbors in the area.

The figure kept running, then magically disappeared. Kat turned her speed up a gear, determined to not let this animal or person get away.

"Help!" A voice laced with fear cried out. Kat slowed down, confused. Then, when she saw what her doom could have been, she slid to a stop.

"Help! I'm going to fall!" Kat inched closer to the cliff edge, and saw what she thought was a cat, barely clinging on to the ledge.

"Here, take my hand!" Kat stretched her hand out, and the cat hesitated, then took it. With strength she never knew she had, Kat hauled the cat onto solid ground.

"Are you ok?" Kat asked, panting.

"Y-yeah. Thanks. Y-you saved my life."

"No problem," Kat replied with a friendly smile. "So what's your name? I don't think I've seen you around town before."

"My name's Skyler. The reason you've never seen me is because I'm always in the city, except for today. Today I had the day off." Skyler shivered.

"Oh. Why don't you come over to my house? By the way, my name's Kat."

Skyler politely declined. "No thanks. I-I should get going now." The cat quickly got up off the ground and disappeared into the night once again.

Kat slowly rose to her feet, and remembered that she invited her brothers over. Great, now she'd have some explaining to do.


	3. Chapter 3

The house was quiet. For Kat, that was a relief because when she got home the night before, both of her brothers were partying. In her house. Of all places, it had to be _her_ house. Once Kat had arrived home and had seen what they had done, she kicked them out. Neither of them seemed to be mad.

"Ding dong." Kat moaned. Who would be at the door this early in the morning? There was only one way to find out.

Sliding out of bed, Kat walked downstairs and hoped that whoever was at her door at seven in the morning didn't mind that she was still wearing her pajamas.

"Hello?" No one was outside. Weird. "Hello?" Kat stepped outside and looked around. "Skyler, it is you?" A small cat revealed himself.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Why are you hiding?"

"I don't know."

Seeing how frightened the pale tabby cat was, Kat tried to comfort him. "Do you want to talk to me?" Kat closed the door to her house and slowly approached Skyler.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving me yesterday. I'd be a pile of broken bones if you hadn't," Skyler shuddered, probably picturing himself at the bottom of the cliff… "Here. It's the least I can do." Skyler handed a small necklace chain to Kat. It curled up like a snake in its new owner's hand.

"Thanks," Kat replied uncertainly, not sure what to make of the gift.

"Please take it. It's the only way I can show my appreciation."

"Don't worry, I love it," upon closer inspection of the chain, it was a dull gold, and there was a small clasp with tiny roses engraved on it. "Why did you run from me last night?" The question came out suddenly and harshly, and Kat mentally scolded herself for being so abrupt.

"I'm shy," Skyler mewed, his nose twitching as he picked up a smell in the air. "I-I have to go. Bye!" The tabby cat took off and suddenly disappeared into the tall pine trees and bushes. Kat wondered if she should chase him, but remembering what happened the night before, didn't.

It was Saturday, and Kat was relieved when Tom Nook called her and told her she had the day off because he was getting new rare furniture delivered .Taking advantage of the day off, Kat decided to find Skyler. Since she had no idea where he lived, Kat decided to go to the town hall and ask.

When Kat got to the town hall, she was instantly greeted by Pelly, the pelican on the daytime shift.

"Hello Kat! Is there something I can help you with?" Pelly asked, shuffling through some papers.

"Yeah. Can you tell me where Skyler lives?"

"Yes, if you go outside the town hall then walk straight it's the first house you'll find."

"Thanks!" Kat left the town hall and followed Pelly's instructions. Sure enough, she ended up outside of Skyler's house.

Kat knocked and waited. Slowly the door opened and Skyler's head peeked out.

"H-hi," he stuttered.

"How are you doing?" Kat asked.

"Good… why are you here?" Skyler questioned her, his eyes darting nervously around.

"I was just in the area and I figured I'd drop by to see how you've been doing," Kat lied, hoping her "friend" would fall for it.

"Ok… do you want to come in?" Skyler blurted out.

Kat nodded.

Inside the house it was cooler than outside, and as Kat looked around, she was surprised at what she saw. "I never took you for a…" Kat trailed off, not sure what word to use.

"Electronic geek? Yeah, no one knows about it, well, except for you, now."

On all the surfaces of the room were electronics, ranging from phones to computers, to T.V. screens posted on the walls. There was almost no room to move, sit down, or work.

"What's all this for?" Kat asked, not sure what to do.

"Well," Skyler pointed to one of the many T.V. screens on the walls. "That's hooked up to a mini camera that's in the corner of the tailors shop, and that one," the cat pointed to another screen, this one smaller than the first, "is connected to a waterproof mini-cam that's hooked on the bottom of the dock at the fishing pond nearest to my house."

Kat stood, astounded with what her eyes were showing her. "Did you program all this?"

"Yeah. It took a while though," Skyler replied, no longer nervous.

Quickly, Kat counted all the screens on the walls. A total count told her there were thirty-two hidden cameras around Deep Grass, assuming all the screens were hooked up to a camera. "Where's that one?" Kat pointed to a screen with what looked like a small room that had tons of crates and some pieces of furniture that Kat had never seen before. In the middle of the room was a red fox with a white stripe down the middle of his face.

"That's Redd's illegal shop in the city. He steals rare furniture items and sells them. You're probably wondering how I know this, right?" Kat nodded. "Once I put a tracking chip in his suit and traced where he was going. I also put a video camera on his car."

Kat was shocked. "Why isn't he… are you even allowed to do this stuff?"

"I work with this top-secret company," Skyler began to explain. "It's called Intel ACS. It stands for Intelligence: A Creepy Secret. They're constantly changing their name, but that's the one that the boss knows them by."

Kat was still shocked, and almost speechless. "So you work for these guys? How can you trust that I'll keep this a secret?"

Skyler smiled awkwardly. "Well, to answer your first question, I work with them, not for them. No one's paid, and we join, well, sort of voluntarily. And for your second question," Skyler waded through a pile of wires and turned on a screen. "I've been observing you. But of course I don't have the screen on all the time. This is the first time for a few months."

Instead of being angry, Kat was in awe. "I can't believe it… I thought this stuff only existed on T.V. and stuff! That's so… cool!"

Skyler let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "I… I thought you would be mad. You can't tell anyone about this!"

Kat turned to look at the cat. "You can trust me. Friends don't tell each other's secrets."

Skyler looked his new friend in the eye. "I knew I could trust you. I could tell right from the start."


End file.
